by F R Chowdhury
It was quite a few days ago that I read a very interesting article in Bengali under a similar heading written by Mr. Abdul Maqsud. Before I go any further I would like to congratulate Mr. Maqsud for his courage to bring some truth to light at a time when there is, in general, very strong anti-Pakistani feeling in the country. There is no denial that we were deprived of our due rights and share by Pakistanis; and on top of that when they started killing innocent people in March, 1971 there was no scope left to remain united. We took the challenge, fought a do-or-die battle and eventually liberated Bangladesh. However, all Pakistanis were not bad or brutal like Tikka Khan. Some of our supporters and sympathisers have already been honoured by the Government. In this article I will just remember a few more.
Writing about the former president of Pakistan, Mr. Maqsud said, “If Britain had continued its rule in India for a few more years and we could have perhaps seen Ayub Khan as chief of British-India army”. The performance of Pakistan armed forces in 1965 war against seven times bigger that of India proved Ayub Khan’s military competence and brilliance. Then Mr Maqsud narrated two separate events that showed the other side of Ayub Khan’s character. It was during 1965 war with India that an IAF jet was shot down in Pakistan and Ayub Khan went to CMH to meet the Indian officer who happened to be son of General Kariappa under whom Ayub Khan served at one time. That still remains in history as a symbol of decency and courtesy. The other event followed a few years later when Sheikh Mujib was invited to participate in the round table conference in Islamabad following his release from jail. The night before the conference, the president had one guest for dinner and that was Sheikh Mujib. It was very nice of Mr. Abdul Maqsud to write about these incidents when there is so much lack of decency and courtesy on the part of our politicians.
I shall talk about two more persons. Let me first talk about Admiral Ahsan who was the Governor of the then East Pakistan during the general election (1970). Just for the benefit of those who do not know about his background – as a young naval officer, Lt. Ahsan was ADC to Lord Mountbatten, the last governor-general of India. He was also chosen to be the first ADC to Mohammed Ali Jinnah, the first governor general of Pakistan. As a Commodore of the Pakistan Navy, he served as chairman of BIWTA when most of the inland port facilities were developed. He then became the chief of Pakistan Navy before he came again to East Pakistan as a governor. He had a soft corner for East Pakistan and as soon as he smelled conspiracy of not handing over power to the majority party, he got himself released.
The second person I shall talk about is Lt-Gen. Shahabzada Yakub Khan, the then Commander of Pakistan Forces in the Eastern Wing. He was a very scholarly person who spoke five different languages (Urdu, Bengali, English, French and Arabic) almost with equal fluency. It is now known that prior to leaving Dhaka, General Yahya Khan called all senior armed forces officers for a final briefing where he supposed to have said, “shoot, kill, terrorise and destroy the so-called spirit of joy-bangla; restore the full authority of the central government of Pakistan”. It is at that time that Shahbzada told the president of his inability to order his troops to kill his own nationals. He was immediately replaced by General Tikka Khan. Shahabzada returned to Pakistan in civil dress. Many years later he came to Bangladesh as the foreign minister of Pakistan and said that he was so delighted to visit independent Bangladesh.
Today dozens of persons are being killed everyday in the streets of Bangladesh trying to uphold the cause of freedom, democracy and human rights. It is time to remember Shahabzada who refused to order his troops to kill innocent citizens.
<fazlu.chowdhury@btinternet.com>